Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Do you prefer "Daffy" or "Donald"? I can't say I've ever been much of a fan of either of the famous Ducks (maybe Howard, briefly, in the 80s). Maybe sea fowl just aren't my thing? I was, however, totally into Chip & Dale (and chipmunks) as a child. So here's seven minutes of funny Toy Tinkers (Best Animated Short Film Nominee, 1949) starring all three to start your morning:

The Disney and Warner Bros characters used to get Oscar nominated a lot in the Animated Short category. In the past couple of decades the closest thing we have to a perennial in that category is Wallace & Gromit or Pixar as a studio, if that counts, though their characters don't repeat.

You know what I think is a crying shame as animated short films go? That Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) didn't really become a franchise. Disney made three short films with the characters after that blockbuster hit: Tummy Trouble, Rollercoaster Rabbitand Trail Mix-Up though none were nominated at the Oscars. They had the misfortune of arriving in that stretch of a dozen years or so when there were never more than 3 nominees in that category.*

I hated Daffy, liked Donald, preferred Huey-Dewey-Louie, but my favorite duck in that family was Uncle Scrooge. The strange and wonderful adventures of Uncle Scrooge and the boys, travelling to other planets, meeting Norse gods, etc!

I also loved Chip and Dale. They are a little like Jeeves and Bertie. They seemed to have the most fun of the cartoon characters.